


Star and Beginning

by miera



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Chuck Lives, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hansen Family Feels, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-09
Updated: 2013-10-09
Packaged: 2017-12-28 21:46:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/997131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck and Herc arrive for the birth of Mako and Raleigh's second child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Star and Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a fluffy fic where Chuck lives and is maturing and he and Herc are still kind of awkward with each other while Mako and Raleigh live happily ever after with their kids.

The door opens as they're walking toward the house and the four-year old manic ball of energy known as Stacker Yancy Becket flies down the stairs and runs at them full tilt, yelling, "Granpa Herc! Uncle Chuck!"

Chuck barely has time to brace himself with his cane before the kid hits his legs. He's grateful for the instinctive press of his father's arm around his back, keeping him from teetering too much. But he grins down at the mop of blonde hair clinging to his knees. "Hey squirt."

"Stacks," Raleigh calls from the steps, looking stern. "What did I say about running at people?"

The little boy looks remorseful for a minute. Herc intervenes by putting down his duffle and bending over. "So, what, I don't get a hug anymore?"

Stacks laughs and holds out his arms. Herc lifts the child into a bear hug and Chuck has to swallow around the sudden lump in his throat. He remembers running to greet his father when he was about the same age, when Herc came home from a long deployment, back in a different life. He concentrates on getting up the stairs. 

Raleigh watches but doesn't offer Chuck help, because he knows better. "Doing okay?" 

Chuck shrugs a shoulder. "Same as before." His physical condition is as good as it will ever get. He's more or less made his peace with it. Six years with no signs of the kaiju returning have made it easier. Herc follows them up, Stacks still in his arms, as Chuck asks, "How's Mako?"

As he says it, Raleigh frowns and darts into the house, Chuck and Herc following quickly. They find Mako in the kitchen, one hand holding on to the counter and the other rubbing gentle circles over her stomach. She's the size of a category one kaiju even though her delivery date is still a week away.

"I'm fine," she says before anyone can speak. "The baby kicked me very hard, that's all." 

"Tough little sprog," Chuck observed, grinning. Mako glared at him but it was half-hearted. 

"I thought you were on bed rest," Herc put in, aiming his own glare at Mako.

She stiffens. "I can put away a few dishes."

Raleigh gives them a desperate look that tells Chuck exactly how well he's been doing with getting Mako to actually rest. Herc hands Stacks over to his father. "Not anymore. We didn't come halfway around the bloody globe to watch you strain yourself." He's using his most paternal voice and Chuck hides a smile as Mako gives in to a father what she wouldn't concede to anyone else and lets Herc guide her out of the kitchen. 

"Mommy's going to have a baby, Uncle Chuck!" Stacker informs him, almost bursting after having been quiet for nearly four whole minutes.

"I know, kiddo."

"I don't know if it's a baby brother or a baby sister, though," he adds, looking doleful.

"Well, I reckon you'll find out soon enough."

*~*~*~*~*

Chuck ends up sitting on a hassock near Stacks' play table all evening, ostensibly helping the kid with his Lego city but really listening as the boy tells him an incredibly long and convoluted story about the people who live there. Chuck snaps stray pieces of Lego together into odd shapes as the kid talks, watching the others.

His father is sitting across from Mako, who is not only sitting on the couch but has her feet up in Raleigh's lap and a blanket over her body against the chill in the night air. Herc's telling her the latest developments in the Shatterdome while she asks questions. It's an effective distraction that's keeping her from trying to get up and do things. Raleigh is dozing on the couch, one arm draped over Mako's legs protectively. 

When Raleigh lets out a soft snore, Chuck can't resist. He grabs his cane and pokes Raleigh in the leg. His eyes fly open. "What?"

Chuck snickers. "You were drooling, mate." Raleigh wipes his face automatically and even Mako giggles at him. 

"Why did I invite you here?" Raleigh grumbles but he's grinning as he gets up and collects the tea mugs and takes them to the kitchen. 

Mako glances at the clock. "Stacker, it's time for bed." 

"Just a few more minutes?" he begs but he yawns hugely in the middle of it and the adults laugh. 

"I think you're done in, boy-o. Your mom is right." 

He switches tactics. "Can Granpa Herc read my bedtime story?" 

"If you go right upstairs and put on your pajamas and brush your teeth without any more excuses," Mako replies calmly. "Say goodnight to everyone."

"G'night Uncle Chuck." Stacks throws his arms around Chuck's neck. 

"Night, kiddo."

He hugs everyone else and starts thumping up the stairs with an impossible amount of noise for such a small person. Mako yawns herself. Herc eyes her but she holds up a hand before he can speak. "I know, I think I should sleep as well."

Herc helps her stand and she hugs him awkwardly, due to the bulge of her stomach, looking over his shoulder at Chuck. "I'm glad you're here," she says quietly, before slipping away. Raleigh is waiting and he helps her up the stairs with his hand resting possessively on the small of her back. "I'll call you when Stacks is in bed," Raleigh tells Herc.

Jet lag is catching up with Chuck as well. It's a long flight from Hong Kong to Denver. He had understood why Raleigh and Mako had left the dome when they found out she was pregnant. In peacetime it made no sense to try to raise a child in a Shatterdome. He had not understood why they picked Denver until he and Herc came to visit for Stacker's christening. There's something vaguely comforting about having a massive mountain range in between them and the ocean, even if realistically they all know a mere mountain wouldn't actually stop a kaiju.

He gets to his feet, leaning on his cane, and looks at the photos on the mantle over the fireplace. Most of them are of Stacks, but he finds the framed picture from the wedding near the middle. A year after the breach, Chuck had been upright if not walking well by then, and found in a world where there were barely half a dozen surviving Jaeger pilots, the connection he had to Raleigh and Mako was something he desperately needed. He had been Raleigh's best man, and his father had walked the bride down the aisle. The wedding photo was just the four of them; they had to conduct the wedding in secret to avoid the media frenzy that would've dogged the world's saviors if it had been public. 

Herc comes to stand next to him. "Sprog's gotten big," he remarks, looking at the most recent picture, Stacks in a pile of leaves, grinning at the camera. 

"We haven't seen him in two years," Chuck reminds him. There had been a confrontation between the U.S. and China the year before near Christmas and their plans to visit for the holidays had to be suspended. "You think the baby is a boy or a girl?"

Herc shrugs. "Hard to tell. Your mum thought you were a girl until they handed you to her." 

Chuck's heard that story before. His throat tightens, as it always does when his mother comes up. They talk about her more now. For years, during the war, they never spoke of her at all. 

They never spoke of anything at all. Small talk is progress for the Hansens.

He looks at the pictures of the little boy again. He thinks, finally, he's starting to understand his father's decision. For years Chuck hated that he survived at his mother's expense, hated himself and hated his father for choosing. But when Stacks was born, and Mako insisted Chuck hold the baby while Raleigh laughed and snapped pictures, he felt a fierce rush of protectiveness he'd never felt before. Stacks wasn't even his own kid, but Chuck knew there wasn't much he wouldn't have done to protect the little boy.

Raleigh calls down to them and Herc puts a hand on Chuck's shoulder for a moment before heading upstairs. Chuck decides sleep is in order and carefully makes his way up the staircase after him.

*~*~*~*~*

There's a sharp thump against the door that wakes Chuck up. It takes him a minute to remember that he's in the spare room in Raleigh and Mako's house, crammed into a bed with his father. It's not exactly comfortable but they've slept in worse places.

His father grunts. "Was that a knock?"

They both listen. There are sounds of frantic activity outside the door. Herc goes to investigate, since Chuck can't exactly spring out of bed with his prosthetic leg propped up against the chair. Through the open door Chuck sees Raleigh guiding Mako out of their bedroom across the hall and toward the stairs. It's not hard to figure out what's happening. 

Herc comes back and tells him anyway. "Her water broke. They're going to the hospital."

"Good thing we got here when we did."

His father nods and yawns so wide Chuck can hear the old man's jaw pop. He'd make a joke but he catches the yawn himself. 

"Coffee," Herc grunts, heading for the stairs. 

Chuck nods, intending to get up and follow, but he flops back onto the pillow for a moment and closes his eyes. The next thing he's aware of, he's jerking awake again. He heard a noise? 

Sitting up, he sees Stacks standing in the doorway. The poor kid is shaking and crying. "Hey, kiddo, what's the matter?" The little boy lets out a choked sob and flings himself onto the bed, crawling into Chuck's lap. "Woah, hey, it's all right." He wraps his arms around the kid. "What happened?"

"Mommy and Daddy are... are gone," Stacks chokes out. "I woke up and they're not here."

For a moment, Chuck can't talk. His throat constricts so badly he feels ill as memories flood him. But there's a crying kid in his lap and he forces himself to calm down. "No, no, they didn't leave you. Mommy went into labor and they went to the hospital, that's all. They didn't want to wake you up."

Stacks' blue eyes are red from crying. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I promise."

The boy buries his face against Chuck's neck, which is wet and uncomfortable, but hell if Chuck's going to move him right now. "You won't leave will you?"

Herc appears in the doorway. He must have heard the commotion. Chuck and his father share a wordless look as Chuck soothes the little boy. "Not a chance, kiddo."

*~*~*~*~*

They manage to calm Stacks down enough to have breakfast. Raleigh and Mako have been gone for about three hours by now. Given that she was in labor with Stacks for about eight hours, Chuck's expecting they have a long day ahead of them, especially since Stacks is asking for news every five minutes or so. 

He's never fully appreciated his father's patience before, Chuck concludes, watching his old man distract the kid over and over. Chuck's sympathy is already worn thin after the thirteenth time Stacks asks why they can't call Daddy's cell phone. He retreats into the kitchen to hide while Herc tries to get Stacks to play with his favorite toy truck.

He tries to read something on his tablet, but he can't focus. Chuck will deny to anyone that part of it is his own nerves. The long-term effects of piloting Jaegers, even the later models with better radiation shielding, are largely unknown. Mako had been put on bedrest for a reason. Even in a city like Denver that was largely untouched by the kaiju, modern medicine can't fix everything. He spends more time staring out at the falling snow than reading.

So he's closest to the phone when it rings. He jumps up and hops over to the wall, leaning on the counter for balance. "Yeah?" he asks as Herc and Stacker rush into the kitchen.

"It's a girl!" Raleigh says on the other end, not remarking on Chuck's lack of a formal greeting. "They're both fine."

The knot in his chest unravels abruptly and he slumps against the counter. "They're okay," he tells Herc and then looks at Stacks. He decides Raleigh should get to tell his son the news himself. "Here, buddy."

Stacks takes the phone in both his hands. "Hello? Hi Daddy!" There's a tiny pause and then, "Yay!" 

Herc raises his eyebrows and Chuck mouths, "It's a girl" at him. Herc grins broadly and they watch as Stacks practically jumps up and down with excitement for a minute before handing the phone back to Chuck. 

"Mako's sleeping, but the doctor said you guys can come see her this afternoon. Feed Stacks something for lunch okay?"

"Will do." Before he can stop himself, Chuck adds, "Mako's all right?"

"She's tired but otherwise she's fine," Raleigh repeats. If there's a note of amusement in his voice, neither he or Chuck comment on it. 

At the least he's not alone. Herc is watching him again and Chuck nods, aware of his father's own palpable relief. 

Raleigh offers some suggestions for what to feed the kid for lunch and directions to the hospital. Chuck scribbles some notes on the notepad attached to the fridge and then they corral Stacks and manage, somehow, to calm the kid enough for everyone to gobble down some sandwiches before they head for the car. 

*~*~*~*~*

The ride to the hospital turns into a rather tense undertaking when they realize Stacker's car seat is in Raleigh and Mako's car. Chuck and the boy play a game on the drive, Chuck calling out approaching cars while Stacker slinks down in the backseat next to him, hiding and giggling. Herc drives far slower than he probably would, even given the snow. They finally reach the hospital and Herc lets Chuck and Stacker out at the door. Supposedly it's because the little boy can't walk that far but Chuck knows his father doesn't want him to have to navigate the slippery parking lot. His old man can be an overprotective pain in the ass sometimes.

But he goes along with the pretense, because that's what they do.

Raleigh had told them the room number, so he and Stacks head up in the elevators. The kid is overwhelmed by the hospital and holds tightly to Chuck's free hand as they walk, which is good, since if he took off Chuck can't really chase him. But the door to Mako's room is open and as soon as Stacks peeks inside he yells, "Mommy! Daddy!"

Raleigh and Chuck "shhh" him in unison, which makes the two of them and Mako start to laugh. She's cradling a bundle of blankets in her arms. "You need to keep your voice down, Stacker," Mako informs her son lowly. "You don't want to wake the baby." 

"Here, buddy." Raleigh lifts the little boy up so he can kneel on the bed and see.

"Hi baby sister," Stacks whispers, loudly, looking down at the sleeping baby. She looks more like Mako than Stacks had as a baby, which probably makes sense given her genetics. Chuck's never been great at science outside of Jaeger tech. 

Chuck stays back a bit, feeling like an intruder, but Raleigh looks up. "Where's Herc?"

"Parking the car," Chuck says, even though he can almost feel his father approaching in the elevator. Like Raleigh and Mako, the Drift aftereffects have never completely left them. "Congratulations, by the way." He holds out his hand and Raleigh shakes it. 

"Thanks. I had the easy part." 

Chuck meets Mako's eyes and she nods. A lot of years and a lot of things have passed between them since they first met as awkward, lonely kids being lugged around Shatterdomes. They've never been good at talking to each other, so he simply nods back and hopes she can read what he wants to say in his face, because he could never articulate it.

Herc arrives a minute later, pressing Chuck's arm in a fast, wordless query before leaning over the bed to gaze at the baby. "She's a beauty, Mako. Just like her mum." He kisses Mako's forehead gently. He appears completely calm but Chuck can feel the shaking in his father's stomach. In his mind he can see himself, cradled in his mother's arms in a hospital room much like this one. 

Fortunately Stacks interrupts the thought. "What's her name, Mommy?"

"Her name is Seiki," Raleigh tells him.

"It means star and beginning," Mako explains. Her eyes water. "Seiki Tamsin Becket." 

She glances at Herc, who folds his lips together tightly and nods. Tamsin Sevier was a friend of his, back in the day, of course. It had only hit Chuck some time after the Breach was closed, how many of his father's friends and comrades were gone. The people in this room were nearly all Herc had left too. 

"You wanna hold her?" Raleigh asks Herc, who smiles. 

"Try and stop me," he grins, leaning down and letting Mako carefully shift the baby into his arms. He sits down gingerly in the visitor's chair, staring down at the kid. Raleigh snaps pictures with the camera for a moment. 

Stacker leans against Mako's shoulder and gives her a play-by-play of his morning. Raleigh absently shifts the little boy so he won't risk making Mako uncomfortable.

Chuck steps over to Raleigh. "You all right?"

Raleigh smothers a yawn. "Yeah. Running on coffee and adrenaline right now. I'll crash at some point later, probably."

He nods. "So I guess you'll be having tea parties and dressing dollies up soon."

As he expects, Raleigh beams happily at the prospect. "You never know. Jaz used to smash things even more often than me and Yancy did." 

"Given her mum, I suppose it's more than likely," Chuck concedes. Mako overhears this and glares at them both over Stacker's head while the two of them try to look innocent. 

Raleigh places a hand on Chuck's shoulder. "Thanks for coming, by the way. Don't think I said that yesterday."

"Wouldn't miss it. Just be glad our flight wasn't delayed a second time leaving Los Angeles." 

"Yeah I realized that earlier. We were very lucky."

"Seiki was just waiting for her whole family to be present," Mako says in a matter-of-fact way that still makes Chuck and Herc both flush in embarrassment. 

Raleigh is grinning at him and Chuck can't even muster a sarcastic roll of his eyes. He goes on the offensive instead. "All right, Dad, hand over the baby or else." 

"Wow, we had to strong-arm you last time," Raleigh jokes, diving for the camera. 

"I'm depriving you of the pleasure, Raleigh," Chuck tells him. He sits down in the chair before Herc hands over the bundle of blankets. His father immediately busies himself with asking if Mako and Raleigh need anything while Chuck looks down at the baby.

She's tiny and deceptively fragile, but being Mako Mori's daughter Chuck very much doubts she will be that way for long. Well, tiny perhaps, but probably just as indomitable as her mother. He slips a pinkie finger into her hand, unable to keep the grin off his face as her tight grip proves his point. He knows it's a reflex but it feels comforting anyway.

He stays there, the baby a warm weight in his arms, glancing occasionally around the room. Mako has drifted into a doze, which she's more than earned, while Raleigh sits with his son on his lap. Stacks is playing with Raleigh's watch. Herc leans against the wall, talking quietly with Raleigh. 

The baby's legs kick inside the blankets and her eyes flicker open briefly. They're darker than Stacker's were and will probably be brown, given her resemblance to Mako. He knows she can't see him yet, but she doesn't cry or make a noise, just wiggles a bit in his arms and settles down again, safe and warm. A lump forms in his throat and he doesn't look up, hoping no one will notice. 

Star and beginning, he thinks. "It's a good name," he says to nobody in particular. 

Herc lays a hand on his shoulder. Chuck doesn't pull away.


End file.
